Now pretty boy was born in the Oklahoma hills
Where the beautiful flowers grow wild
He was christened Charles Arthur by parents so proud
Who thanked God for their beautiful child

By the side of his cradle his mother would sing
Never dreaming the sorrows he'd bring
But a mother's heart is broke when a boy grows to man
It's been ever true since time first began

Now pretty boy was 20 when he married his young wife
She was only 16 summers old
Then he went to work in a bakery shop out there
But he drifted away from the fold

Left his young wife in Dixie in 1924
Went to Kansas to try to earn more
Then he went to St. Louis got in bad company
And wound up in a penitentiary

He served his time went to Ohio
Killed a man and was sentenced again
He didn't serve the time the jury gave to him
For he jumped from a fast speeding train

Kansas City was the next he took it on the run
Killed two brothers with his careless gun
He killed Mr. Byrd and a man named Wilson
And he left Kansas City on the run

Ohio again, he killed Mr. Ches Stewart
Spreading fear all along his crooked path
Then he went back home got into another row
Killed the sheriff who stirred up his wrath

It was the last trip to Ohio for that wicked fool
He was shot dead 8 miles to Liverpool
Pretty boy will learn on that great Judgment Day
That a life filled with crime does not pay